Japan’s Izakaya Outdo Ireland’s Pubs

TOKYO – Ireland is famous for its pubs. Japan should be even more famous for its izakaya (ee-zah-kah-yah).

Izakaya literally means “public drinking place,” but they are more than just bars or lounges that serve drinks. They also serve food, and larger ones have extensive menus. They are also set apart from regular bars by their size, layout, décor, and furnishings, and the way the staff greets and serves customers.

When people in Japan go out to drink they may go to a bar or a lounge, where the décor is subdued and the atmosphere is quiet. But when they go out to party, it is invariably understood that they go to an izakaya.

A spate of new books on the izakaya reveal just how widespread they are and the role they play in Japanese life. The books identify three categories of izakaya: those that evoke nostalgia for the past; those that are decades old and appeal to older people, and those with atmospheres that are thick with the intimacy of the traditional Japanese way of life—and inspire fiction writers.

For the record, government statistics show that there are approximately 150,000 izakaya in Japan, a remarkable number given fact that the urbanized area of the entire country is about the size of a single county in a larger American state. [In addition, there are some 198,000 bars, cabarets and nightclubs in Japan’s cities, attesting again to the role that drinking plays in Japanese society.]

Seating in izakaya tends to be long, picnic-style wooden tables and benches. Staff members shout out greetings when patrons arrive and thanks when they leave in an atmosphere of raucous camaraderie that is not generally associated with the Japanese. Patrons typically share tables with strangers. Conversations are lively and loud.

Unlike other drinking establishments in Japan where most of the customers are male, izakaya patrons include couples, young women in twosomes and larger groups, and both young and middle-aged men. Many of the mixed-sex groups are co-workers.

Izakaya offer both foreign residents and visitors alike the best opportunity for experiencing a side of life in Japan that is far removed from the formality and rigidity of normal daytime activities, and far more revealing of the character of the Japanese.

Drinking alcoholic beverages has been an integral part of Japanese culture since its inception, first as a ritual associated with Shinto religious practices, then as a vital element in interpersonal relationships in both private and public settings, especially in business, political and other professional affairs.

Because drinking originated as a religious ritual it became imbued with deep-seated cultural meanings and uses that went well beyond the more casual approach to drinking alcoholic beverages that developed in the West.

To the Japanese, drinking was not just a recreational activity or an incidental way of relaxing and forgetting the cares of the day. It became the “oil” that lubricated relationships, the glue that bonded people, and the oath that formalized commitments and contracts.

Drinking also became the one culturally sanctified occasion when people could dispense with the strict etiquette that controlled their behavior and language at all other times -- etiquette that made it critical for them to conduct themselves in the precise way prescribed for their social level, gender, and position.

It was only when drinking and having reached a certain level of intoxication that people could “let their hair down,” speak relatively freely to each other, and behave in a rambunctious or licentious manner, depending on the venue and circumstances.

In earlier times, establishments where drinking was an important part of the activity included inns and restaurants of all kinds -- and there were probably more inns and restaurants in early Japan than in any other country, with the possible exception of China.

Then in more modern times along came bars, cabarets and nightclubs in numbers that were astounding. And among these establishments, none were as important in the lives of ordinary people as the izakaya, the Japanese equivalent of the traditional Irish pubs and early American saloons and taverns.

If you are coming to Japan, I suggest that you put izakaya near the top of your list of things to do.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959 and still in print, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles, each one with a direct link to Amazon.com's buy page, go to www.phoenixbookspublishers.com.